South Carolina
Agent South Carolina, real name Dick Hertz, tells others his name is Noah Singaround, occasionally referred to by South, Carolina, Caro, Thuos and Alin, is a member of the Special Operations Program Project Freelancer: Rebirth and son of Professor Maya S. Hertz and his wife Yura. Appearance Dick's armor is the Mark VI armor with the Rogue helmet, Hayabusa left and right shoulders and CQB chest piece. His armor color is black with a detail color of red. He is a physically fit adult male that stands at six feet and two inches with a lean muscular build. He possesses pale, ghostly white skin as a result of being inside and out of the sun for most of his life, ruby red eyes as a result of a genetic experiment that he underwent that was performed by his father, and pitch black hair that is the result of another genetic experiment that he underwent. Due to many initially failed experiments, Alin has scars covering most of his arms and upper torso; in particular, he has a scar in the middle of his rib-cage that branches out in six different places toward his arms, hips and collar. He also has many scars on his body as a result of drilling through his body to his bones (see below). Another thing to note is that, due to his armor enhancement's residual effects, Alin also has nerves bulging all over his body. Personality Alin is quiet and reserved. He rarely speaks when no one speaks to him and, even when he does, it's usually to say something sarcastic and insulting; he generally tells others that his name is Noah Singaround as a sarcastic way of telling people not to play (as Noah Singaround is his way of saying "No assing around"). Also, due to the way he was raised, he is distrustful of the other agents. Despite that, he is not totally impolite, as he doesn't insult the other members of the program without due cause and generally compliments extraordinary feats. Alin has stated that he doesn't care what other people call him, as displayed with the numerous nicknames others have given him. However, he is reluctant to reveal his real name to anyone, having only told one person, the current Freelancer Agent Texas; due to his father pulling some strings, even the Director isn't aware of his real name, which seems to have caused some bad blood between the two. Compared to other members of the Program, likely as a result of getting special treatment from the higher ups, Alin is the Director's least favorite soldier, usually putting him on the front lines or on missions that would generally be considered suicidal in nature. However, he always comes out of these missions with complete success, though not always in peak physical condition. It is unclear whether this is due to great determination or simply spite toward the director. The director is also rather suspicious of Alin and his motives, due to being given almost no information on him other than his combat training and experience, due to his father, again, pulling strings with the UNSC. Despite his distrustfulness toward others, Alin is rather analytical and calculative, being capable of predicting where a bullet will land based on physics, the gun's overall power and where the gun is pointed; this is the reason he's extremely skilled with his guns, the Magnum and Battle Rifle. After some time, he gets used to the other members of the Program, though despite forming attachments with them, he does not trust them enough to give them his real name. To this day, the only other person outside his family that is aware of his real name is Tex (ironically), though Nevada could learn it if she asked. Alin likes training and combat, viewing them as a form of stress relief, as displayed where, whenever something irritating or upsetting happens to him, he goes right into his barracks to train. This seems to be effective, as he is always significantly more polite and casual for the first two hours after a training exercise than anytime before. When asked a question regarding a mission's success or anything relating to combat, he usually says something along the lines of "I don't finish any mission without tearing shit up," though he does answer the question if this isn't the appropriate answer. Despite, or perhaps because of going on solo suicide missions more often than any other agent (and always surviving), he finds having a team to be difficult in every aspect; when put on a team, whether he's the leader or not, he will usually go off and do something on his own; he always has a plan in his head but he's never willing to share that plan and, should he go on a mission, he will usually attempt to leave everyone else behind while he deals with the mission on his own. He also finds it difficult to take orders, usually ignoring the orders of team leaders and generally being uncooperative toward them. But the one thing that he can stand even less than taking orders and cooperating with a team is casualties; he often sites that he prefers going on solo missions because he finds death difficult to deal with. Despite it taking place at least ten years prior to the events of Project Freelancer: Rebirth, he never got over the death of his mother. When put on a team, he will leave the team behind in the hopes that they will stay safe (a fine compromise, given that he distrusts the other agents despite wanting to prevent their deaths) and, when another agent dies, especially one he's close to, no matter how rare that may be, he always silently cries at the funeral, commenting "it's a bad day for rain." Relationships Alin has made quite a few relationships throughout the series run; however, almost all of them are extremely strained if not downright negative, with the exceptions of Nevada, York, possibly Wyoming, and recently Arkansas. Connecticut Alin doesn't pay much attention to Connecticut and actually ignores him most of the time. He views Connecticut as a goody-two-shoes and would much rather leave him at the base than take him on a mission. Washington There has so far been no prolonged interaction between him and Agent Washington so it is unknown how far their relationship goes, though Alin has so far shown to be indifferent toward Wash. Maine It has been hinted that Alin has animosity toward Maine, since Maine managed to take Alin's second place rank after a mission. However, this has yet to be confirmed and, when asked about it, he claims that he has no ill feelings toward anyone except his father, Maya and the Director for reasons he has yet to disclose. This suggests that there is no animosity and, in truth, he is just competitive. Texas His relationship with Agent Texas is simple; he doesn't bother with Texas and Texas doesn't bother with him in return. The two are capable of working together, though there is apparent animosity between the two, between Tex's independence and Alin's generally distrustful behavior, though this animosity is limited to a random number of specific situations. Despite that, Texas is the only member of the program that is aware of Alin's real name and is one of only two agents that knows what he looks like under his armor; the other being York. Wyoming Alin has a bit of an odd relationship with Wyoming; Alin and Wyoming seem to tolerate each other rather well, as Alin at least has nothing bad to say about him. Whenever Wyoming would tell a joke, rather than insult him like he would for the Director or Maya, he usually says it's funny outloud, although, due to this reaction being considered sarcastic, it is sometimes hard to tell whether or not it's sincere. York Compared to the other members of the program, women excluded, Alin seems to have the best relationship with York. Unlike the others, he actually tries to get along with York and never insults him. On top of that, he also enjoys York's company and will even joke around with York; the fact that he'd joke with someone at all is proof of how relaxed he is around York. In fact, to date, York is one of only two soldiers that knows what Alin looks like under his armor, minus his family; the other being Texas. Carolina has even described York as his best friend. North Dakota Out of all of the members of the program, Alin seems to care for North the least; Alin is disrespectful to North, uncooperative during team missions under his leadership, and is even rebellious toward him, threatening to "rip his head right off his neck" if he were to give him an order he doesn't agree with. He seems to view North as a rival, much like Maine, though in Maine's case, he's just competitive while with North, it is extremely venomous. Nevada Alin's relationship with Nevada is something of note compared to the other members of the program; despite being distrustful of the other agents, he seems not to mind Nevada as much and, if asked, would give her information that he wouldn't give to others. He seems to trust her better than the others, as he seems to find a little bit of his mother, who he loved dearly, in every woman he meets. After Ark dies, Carolina takes note of his feelings for Nevada and, between his want to carry on his legacy coupled with his generally protective personality toward women, doesn't allow her to go down without a fight. Arkansas Unlike with other members of the Program, Alin doesn't particularly have strong positive or negative feelings for Arkansas. Carolina is often the one to tell Arkansas to shut up when he starts yelling gleefully, most often due to his enhanced hearing making it hard to deal with. However, he has advised Arkansas to be careful with the other members of the program, warning him particularly of Maine and Wash, as he knows Maine's an unknown to anyone other than Connecticut and Wash is generally unfeeling, making the two dangerous in his opinion. When asked why he isn't careful, though, Carolina notes "Because even the most dangerous psychopath can't take down a one-man army." Recently, Carolina has become much more relaxed around Arkansas, usually being the one to recommend him for missions with high pay-off that aren't suicidal in nature. Carolina is also much calmer around Arkansas than with others, seeming to view him as a sort of younger brother, though this relaxation around him is decidedly less than it is with York. South Dakota Alin has yet to actually speak to Agent South and, when they attempt to speak, no conversation is sustained. Though it is never confirmed that he is impressed by South's combat ability, nor is that even a logical conclusion, Carolina is aware that South is a far better fighter and soldier than most military programs should be able to produce. The Director Alin is not only distrustful toward the director but he also downright hates him. He knows he's the Director's least favorite and is aware that the Director puts him on suicide missions to kill him. He thinks the Director views him as expendable and, as a result, sometimes feels that the director feels that way about all the agents and is frustrated by this. Professor Maya S. Hertz Alin has admitted to hating Maya, his father, for some reason or another, though no one was around during this admission, which works out fine for him. Despite Maya caring deeply for his son, Alin doesn't seem to share these feelings and sometimes believes that his father cares more about the money than his family, due to the lengths he'd go to in order to get money. However, he tolerates Maya so he can get the upgrades he needs when he asks, so no one is aware of these feelings, though Nevada and possibly York could get it out of him if they tried. Yura S. Hertz His attachment to Yura is perhaps his most loving one of all; when he was a child, he would always love to go with her while she was at work and preferred hanging out with her over his father. He loved her so much, in fact, that he decided to undergo experiments in her place to protect her. Even after her death, he continued to undergo the experiments to honor her memory. Her death had a huge impact on his adult life; in hindsight, it just might be because of her death that Alin has so much difficulty maintaining positive relationships with the other agents. History Alin, born Dick Hertz, was the son of the UNSC's leading scientist and engineer of the time, Professor Maya S. Hertz and Japanese-American model, Yura. The family was fairly wealthy, though they also lived modestly to properly raise Dick. Maya's specialties in science are anatomy and engineering, though he's also experienced in chemistry, biology and computer science. After ten years of working with the UNSC, Maya was fired for unknown reasons, though speculation exists that he may have coerced soldiers into participating in potentially lethal experiments. Upon being fired, Maya and his family began to have money trouble. Maya believed that, in order to earn his place as the UNSC's leading scientist once again, he had to create a Super Soldier capable of performing feats of strength and athleticism that couldn't be performed under any other circumstance. Yura attempted to undergo these experiments so that they could raise Dick again. However, Dick, being unusually aware of himself and his surroundings for a nine year old boy, knew that these experiments were potentially lethal and scarring, especially for a woman like her, who had never went through a combat scenario even once. As a result, Dick underwent these experiments in her place, starting on his tenth birthday. It is not entirely clear what these experiments entail or what happened but it is clear that something happened for the following ten years. During this time, his mother Yura died under questionable circumstances. Upon his twentieth birthday, Dick enlisted in the army and, after applying for the job, was given a position in the Special Operations Program Freelancer: Rebirth by age 21. Skills and Abilities Due to undergoing biological experiments performed by his father, Maya, Alin possesses certain traits that may not be readily available to other members of the Program or other Special Operations members in general, at least not without the equivalent armor enhancements. At age 12, Alin had experiments performed that would enhance his regenerative capabilities by stimulating and reviving dead cells; this is done with one of two chips implanted in his brain that cause this. The result granted him enhanced regeneration and a stronger immune system. As a result of the final product, he can survive any wound other than a certain death blow (such as getting stabbed in the heart or being beheaded) and he can survive all but the two most powerful diseases and the twenty most powerful military grade poisons. However, many of the initial experiments failed, leaving behind much scarring on his arms and upper torso. This also has the added effect of impeding his aging. Following this, by age 15, he had undergone an experiment that would increase the durability of his bone structure; this was done by molecularly bonding his skeletal system with stainless steel, though this also increased his weight. Because of this, Alin also possesses a degree of superhuman strength, though that strength is decidedly lower than the Freelancers with the superstrength armor enhancement. His strength was enough for him to lift anything that is up to three times his mass with a single hand (an equivalent of 756 kilograms or 1665 pounds). His enhanced strength is also partly due to an experiment he underwent on his sixteenth birthday, which works by enhancing the production of ATP within his system, granting him more energy, which was done with another chip implanted in his brain which causes this effect. By age 17, he underwent a procedure to meld his dermis with Kevlar, adding a degree of protection from gunshots in times of crisis. This proceedure doesn't seem to significantly affect his regenerative capabilities and the circumstances surrounding this have not been disclosed as of yet. This procedure grants him a degree of protection from gunfire even without his armor on, though how well it protects him depends on the range at which the weapon is fired. In terms of the melding Kevlar and Stainless Steel, due to an undisclosed method of altering the makeup of the substances, regenerate when damaged and as a result, even if they break, when Carolina regenerates, so do the materials. Prior to gaining the Gravity Unit, his speed was impressive, being capable of running at 15 miles per hour in a full sprint, though due to his light frame being taxed by the stainless steel that had melded with his skeleton, he could only maintain this sprint for fifteen seconds. On average, he could run at 12 miles per hour, 13 if he pushed himself. Also, due to his armor enhancement thickening the nerves throughout his body, his senses are significantly stronger than normal; he can feel anything within a ten meter radius around his body, he can smell and taste any type of poison, even the seemingly tasteless and scentless ones, he can smell any scent right up to where it originated even days after it began eroding away, and is capable of picking up a conversation between two whispering people from thirty meters away, even with interference in between and has a certain degree of night vision. However, due to these sensitive senses, he is oversensitive and often overstimulated by light, sound, smell, taste and touch. This also means that he feels significantly more pain from a minor injury than anyone else would feel from a significantly worse injury. This means that he has very little endurance, though he can maintain focus even when injured. After gaining the Gravity Unit from Maya, Alin gained strength at a significant rate. After a month with training in 2 G's with it, his strength, speed, and reflexes essentially doubled, now being capable of lifting six times his mass, moving at roughly 30 miles per hour in a full sprint, and dodging an array of auto-firing turrets without sustaining an injury. He also gained more stamina, as he could maintain that thirty mile per hour sprint for a minute and thirty seconds on a good day. Despite that, he believes this is not enough to regain his rank and, as a result, trains in even higher levels of gravity for prolonged periods. Besides the results of his genetic and biological experiments, he also has standard military training. He is a master martial artist, gunslinger, knife fighter and sniper. While not the best Freelancer in any one area, he is a jack of all trades and, as a result, can fill the other members' positions should the need arise. His skill with artillery and heavy weaponry is less than that of his skill with battle rifles, sniper rifles, and pistols, though he seems capable enough with them to at least graze a moving target. He doesn't seem to care much for Assault rifles and, when asked to use one, he mutters "fuckberries" under his breath. Despite that, he's not particularly bad in their use, being capable of getting at least one headshot on a target 400 meters away, approximately 100 meters past an Assault Rifle's default range, when combined with his Gravity Unit. Because he never left his house as a child, he never learned how to drive or pilot and, as a result, usually requires someone else to get him where he needs to go, particularly when it involves intergalactic travel. However, he's capable of learning quickly so long as he gains instruction, so this weakness could be rectified if he had a teacher or some form of instruction. He's also skilled with lockpicking and infiltration, being capable of breaking into an armed military base undetected, though he almost never ends these missions without "tearing shit up" and, as a result, usually brings some form of explosive device with him on such missions. Also, due to growing up under a lead scientist for the UNSC, Alin has a degree of understanding of computer software, physics, biology, and anatomy, as he can hack most computer terminals rather easily, get a hit on any target within a reasonable range depending on the gun's power, and can perform first aid on someone based on their symptoms, though his actual medical expertise is rather limited. Also, when it comes to vehicles, besides being incapable of driving or piloting them, it is hinted that he is also inept in their construction, as when he asks to help, the one he asks makes a remark saying that he'd probably end up destroying the vehicle rather than repairing it; whether this is because of a lack of vehicular construction skills or simply because of his penchant for aggression when irritated is unclear. Two particularly well honed skills of his besides his hand to hand combat capability are his knife-throwing and counterattack techniques; when he throws a knife, he usually throws it from the tip and, whenever he does this, he usually hits the target square in the face. He has thrown from the handle and seems to be somewhat accurate that way, though finds throwing from the tip easier, although he also says it's cooler. Also, likely as a result of being born into a family of bladesmiths along with his martial arts training and superhuman reflexes, Carolina is also capable of catching blades between his fingers, even the blades of expert knife-fighters like Connecticut. This has proven to be a valuable skill for him, as catching blades and blunt objects in his hands acts as a good prelude to his counterattacks, as is the philosophy of his signature martial art. Due to being the least favorite of the Director, Alin is almost always put on suicide missions or on the front lines of battle, usually on his own. However, due to an indomitable will, he always survives these missions, acting as a testament to his overall skill level. He goes on suicide solo missions so often that he perhaps has more combat experience than most of the other soldiers. However, due to going on solo missions so often, he is accustomed to being alone and, as a result, finds it difficult to act on a team, at least if the team doesn't revolve their strategy around his actions. Carolina's skill and experience have earned him the epithet "The Gravity Wave." He has even dubbed himself "One-man Army," which seems to be accurate, due to his skill in taking down entire military bases single-handedly. Armor Enhancements Due to gaining his armor enhancements from his father, Maya, rather than the Director of the Program, Alin's armor enhancements are rather unique compared to the other soldiers. His first armor enhancement is a Nervous System Enhancer, nicknamed the Quick Unit by Alin. It works by thickening his nerves to such a degree that he is capable of moving at greater speeds than normal. This armor enhancement grants him enhanced speed, strength, accuracy and reflexes. Also, due to the enhancement increasing the size of his nerves for a permanent enhancement rather than being temporary like the other members, he retains these physical enhancements even if the unit is damaged, stolen or is otherwise left unusable. However, the unit is rather powerful and unstable, as Alin has admitted that the unit can overload the central nervous system and kill the user if they're not careful. This is why he recommends that, if anyone should use it, they should start it off with 1% of its maximum power and nothing higher and then go up .1 percent every month. After being reduced on the leader board from 2nd to 3rd (being ousted by Maine), Alin felt he needed to get stronger and better quickly. As a result, he asked for a second Armor Enhancement from Maya, something that can help him improve. As a result, Maya, after tinkering with it, gave him a Gravity Unit, which can release up to 20 G's of force in any direction. However, he has yet to use it on anyone other than himself, using it to enhance his already incredible strength, speed and reflexes through training and practice. He also uses it to increase the range and speed a bullet goes when he pulls a gun's trigger, acting as a makeshift coilgun. Due to the significant power reserves these two armor enhancements require to use, Alin gained a dark matter convertor from Maya to compensate for this weakness. Weapons His main weapon is the M6C Magnum pistol, which he uses to great effect, being capable of getting three consecutive headshots on three targets from one hundred meters away with the use of the Magnum and physics calculations made in his head. However, he knows that the Magnum has limited strength and, as a result, keeps the significantly stronger Battle Rifle as a sidearm when he needs to deal more damage. The M6 series pistol he uses varies from time to time; by default, he carries the M6C pistol, due to its sound suppressor, muzzle brake and black polymer finish (he likes the color black). However, on other occasions, he uses the upsized M6G Magnum pistol, due to its explosive ammunition, though he's not too fond of the color. And other times still, he uses an M6F Magnum due to its smart-linked scope, though again, he doesn't very much like the color. And last, he sometimes uses the M6D for its explosive ammunition and smart-link scope and chooses it when he can't decide between the scope or explosive ammunition. Out of all of them, his favorite is the M6C purely because of its color. Carolina also keeps a modified Combat Knife on him at all times, which he keeps holstered on the right side of his back, due to wielding his pistol left handed. The knife has a compartment in it that will separate from the rest of the knife, revealing a large severing wire in the middle which he can use to entangle enemies and cut up just about anything. The wire is particularly durable, withstanding the shock of multiple shots from Maine's Bruteshots and it's fine and thin enough to cut through the MJOLNIR armor with enough force, making it a particularly valuable weapon to him. Notes *Alin is left handed. *Alin seems to be a fan of video games, particularly the Mass Effect series, as he has quoted many lines spoken by the Protagonist, Commander Shepard. In particular, he has some quotes that he will use when it fits the situation: **The first, he holds a gun up to the target's head as he says "See this? This is how a gun in your face feels! It happens to me everyday! You can't handle this!" when he's interrogating someone. **Another is also done with interrogations: "Would you rather be a snitch or a corpse?" **When called on a suicide mission, he asks "How come everytime there's a problem, you end up running to me?" **Another one he likes with interrogations is "I just saved you from a nasty prison shower scene." **When listening to North or the Director, he asks the nearest soldier "How do I shut this thing up?" **One he modified in order to fit his culture, he says to the Director "The higher-ups can kiss my ass!", with the original quote being "The Council can kiss my ass!" **When negotiating, he says "I think I'll just kill you instead." **A joke he used to play with York prior to his death was to say "I was just thinking how you remind me of Santa Clause." **An ironic one is, when someone asks about Maine, he says "Sometimes Maine's a real ass. Just try to ignore him." **When he argues with North, when North brings up the fact that Carolina questions his competence as a leader, Carolina will smartly remark "The best way to stop that is to show me your competence." **Another one he likes when interrogating is "You won't look so smug with a hole in your head." **When given an idea for a plan, usually when it involves surrender, frontal assault, or diversionary tactics, he says "I haven't been shot in the head nearly enough times to make that seem like a good idea." **This is what he says to any nearby teammates as he is about to blow up a military base: "I'm about to blow this place to hell and gone. If you want to make it out alive, you'd better start running." ***It should be noted that all of these quotes can be found in this video. *Along with quoting Mass Effect, he has also modified the lyrics from the opening song from the Animated Spider-Man series from 1967: while swinging from his cutting wire, he sings "Carolina-Man, Carolina-Man, does whatever Carolina can!" not only referencing Spider-Man but also referencing Agent Carolina from the canon Red vs. Blue series. *Carolina's real name comes from two concepts. **His first name comes from DC comics' Dick Grayson, also known as Nightwing. **His surname, Hertz, comes from the unit in which the Frequency of a Wave is measured; this ties in to both his strength and durability, as frequency dictates the amount of energy in a wave: durability, or toughness, is the amount of energy an object can withstand before breaking. *Carolina's description of South Dakota is reminiscent of that of Tim Drake, another DC comics character, another member of the Batman Family, and another character that has taken on the title of Robin. Category:Project Freelancer: Rebirth